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L.A. heavyweight Austin Beutner drives the Mammoth Invitational

The driving force behind the Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation and the Mammoth Invitational is someone most Mammothites wouldn’t recognize even if they knocked him over on the slopes.

He is Austin Beutner, who has a home in Mammoth. But he’s not just your ordinary second-homeowner.

He is, first of all, a candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles in the 2013 municipal election there.

According to his website (www.austinforla.org), Beutner has three decades of accomplishment in the private and public sectors.

“As a business leader and philanthropist, he has built organizations and led them to achieve outstanding results.

“In his most recent role as Los Angeles First Deputy Mayor and Chief Executive for Economic and Business Policy, Austin worked to build a stronger Los Angeles. He served as the city’s Jobs Czar from January 2010 to April 2011 for a salary of $1 a year.

“He oversaw 13 city departments ranging from Building and Safety, Planning, and the L.A. Convention Center, to the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports and the Department of Water and Power (DWP).

“He brought an innovative ‘do more with less’ approach to getting city government to work and provide better service to constituents. His many accomplishments included cutting $263 million out of DWP’s budget to avoid a rate increase, cutting in half the time it takes to permit a restaurant and refocusing the city’s efforts to support small and minority-owned businesses.

“He started an effort to reach out to businesses in Los Angeles, which helped many employers keep their doors open and allowed them to hire more people. He implemented important policy changes, such as creating a business-tax holiday and eliminating red tape. This helped attract companies like Google, BMW, Blackline, BYD, Gensler and Mission Foods to Los Angeles, creating thousands of good-paying jobs.

“Beutner has spent most of his career working in the private sector. At age 29, he became the youngest partner at The Blackstone Group, one of the world’s leading investment firms.

“At 33, he served in the U.S. State Department under President Bill Clinton where he led a team that helped Russia transition to a market economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He went on to found Evercore Partners with former Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman.

“As President and Chief Executive Officer, Beutner built Evercore into a global leader, with offices in the U.S. and around the world.

“He is deeply involved in the community, serving as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of CalArts, Chairman of the Board of the Broad Stage, Chairman of the Governor’s Council on Sports & Physical Fitness, Co-Chairman of CalArts Community Arts Partnership, and Chairman and Founder of Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation.

“He also serves on the Boards of ICEF Public Schools and ACT Today and is Chairman of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the NFL Stadium He and his wife have four children.”